From FOWLR to Mixed Reef to Mangroves to Softies

[soggycookies]

 

Hello everyone,

 

I’ve been keeping marine fish since the early 2000s, but only got into reefing proper in 2015. Thought I’d share some of my aquarium projects over the past few years.

 

In the beginning, I got a secondhand tank from Iwarna. I wanted to go for a bigger display with initial plans for a FOWLR on a budget so this option seemed best at the time.

 

Its basic specs were:

- 58” x 24” x 24”

- Skimmer: Bubble Magus Curve-9

- Wavemakers: Jebao RW-20 & subsequently x2 Jebao RW-8s.

- Return Pump: Sicce Syncra Silent 5.0

 

Here’s a photo of the tank in its early stages:

 

I was keeping mostly fish in the beginning with a few anemones, but developed a newfound interest in corals when I noticed some stray GSP and goniopora on live rock I’d gotten from FreshnMarine growing unexpectedly.

 

 

Eventually, I got better lighting, ran a few reactors and converted to a mixed reef-tank for a year or so. Regrettably, the tank ultimately crashed due to a thermal fracture(the tank was running at 25 degrees on a chiller but was located in my front porch which was generally hot most of the time) causing the already more prone curved glass on its sides to crack and I had to decommission the system immediately.

 

While deciding what to do with the unfortunate situation, I experimented with a cube tank plumbed to the sump of my old 5footer and grew mangroves and some simple corals.

 

 

Not too long after, I got a brand new system that was even bigger than the previous one from and couldn’t quite decide what I wanted to do with it at first- Fish-only or full-blown reeftank. I even messed around with cuttlefish and octopus at one point.

 

 

This newer system went through a lot of changes in a couple of years but its initial specs were:

- Dimensions: 72” x 36 “ x 30”

- Skimmer: SkimZ Monzter SM207 DC

- Wavemaker: Jebao RW-20 & x2 RW-8s from my previous system, and subsequently + x2 Maxspect Gyre xf-330s.

- Lighting: x3 Maxspect R4z0r 160w and subsequently a Maxspect RSX R5-300 to go with the icv6

 

Ultimately(and quite recently) I decided to settle with a softie tank with a large fish stocking and plumbed a UV sterilizer for good measure.

 

 

 

I kept the Mangrove system running for about a year and a half before it also had to be decommissioned due to renovation works next door.

 

Couldn’t bear to see my mangroves go entirely so I managed to get some of them into another semi-outdoor 4ft system I had for while running on with leftover equipment from previous systems on a very tight budget(i more or less got that system for free from a reefer who decommissioned their tank and refurbished it myself)

 

 

I hope everyone has been taking the time to care for and appreciate their tanks even more this circuitbreaker!

 

Cheers & stay safe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[zander]

Good to see your experiences. Although there are some sad moments, throughout the process, You must learn a lot. It also inspired me, hopefully I can avoid the same situation by learning from your lesson.


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[soggycookies]

Good to see your experiences. Although there are some sad moments, throughout the process, You must learn a lot. It also inspired me, hopefully I can avoid the same situation by learning from your lesson.


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Thanks bro. Glad that I could provide some insight. Curved glass on a larger system is not what I’ll be repeating in the future hahahaha


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[soggycookies]

More photos!
Went from a budget peaceful FOWLR when i first setup the 125gal:


gradually began to keep some coral


to a more standard-looking reef in the 300gal more recently:






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[soggycookies]

And some shots of the mangroves when I first planted them, then 5 to 8 months later:




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[Otaku Reefer]

bro i see u keeping cowfish, mine died after about 3months, suddenly stop eating, it has been eating seaweed and pallets very greedy, but i noticed it keep gulping air during feeding so i suspect maybe its death related to this. any special diet u feed to it?


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[Clement Chen]

Wow nice system. Do u find the mangrove taking up more magnesium? I had a few mangroves but find my magnesium always unbalanced. Need to manually add more even though I'm running a calcium reactor with magnesium inside

[soggycookies]

Wow nice system. Do u find the mangrove taking up more magnesium? I had a few mangroves but find my magnesium always unbalanced. Need to manually add more even though I'm running a calcium reactor with magnesium inside

i never tested magnesium in my mangrove setup but you’re probably right about it taking in elements like that. only kept softies in the same system with them


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[soggycookies]

found some old photos of my older system back in 2017





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[Admiraltian]

Cool and unique selection of livestock.

[soggycookies]

One of the things I miss the most about my old FOWLR setup was being able to keep members of the puffer family, like this Map Puffer back in early 2018




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[soggycookies]

A miliaris cowrie, one of my favorite algae grazer CUC. they have a very peculiar mouth that has an appendage that resembles an actual human tongue that from my observations is used to literally “lick” algae off surfaces

 

 

 

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[soggycookies]

Some photos of an assortment of coral from my old mixed reef setup after converting from FOWLR

teal anchor euphyllia


pink-tip frogspawn


pocillopora sps



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[soggycookies]

My beloved annularis angel that grew from 5-9” in the time that I had it.

When I first got it some years back:


More recent photo in late 2019:





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[Indeco]

My beloved annularis angel that grew from 5-9” in the time that I had it.

When I first got it some years back:


More recent photo in late 2019:





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reef safe? haha

[soggycookies]

reef safe? haha

in my tank, at the moment yes. over a period of several months i tried different softies and some easy lps to see which it would and wouldn’t eat. 

now i know it’s safe to keep with leathers(fingers, trees and toadstools), xenia and gsp species, clove polyps and mushrooms.

 

coral it definitely consistently munched on before: zoas.

 

It nipped at fleshy lps like my old torch before so i wouldn’t risk putting in stuff like lobos, scolys, acans and euphyllia. i’ve never tried sps with it but i never planned to to begin with cause the system it’s in is a low maintenance one, but based on what i read/saw online via the experience of others, sps are usually safe with large angels.

 

generally their fav coral ime is zoas. if you’re a zoa or meaty lps fan, most angels are a big no-no

 

 

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[Indeco]

Oh ok, I saw ur reef tank so I thought urs is reef safe.

I'm guess bandit angel should be the same liao.

[soggycookies]

Oh ok, I saw ur reef tank so I thought urs is reef safe.  

I'm guess bandit angel should be the same liao.

 

technically most angels other than those in the genus genicanthus are never truly “reef-safe”, even dwarf angels. you can keep them with certain corals but can’t be trusted to be considered reef-safe until you’ve monitored the behavior of individual specimens for a certain amount of time.

 

in the past i had a regal angel and it didn’t touch my euphyllia. but it mowed down my gsp. in this case it’s the opposite with my current annularis angel that leaves gsp alone but will nip euphyllia, at least torches

 

 

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[Indeco]

technically most angels other than those in the genus genicanthus are never truly “reef-safe”, even dwarf angels. you can keep them with certain corals but can’t be trusted to be considered reef-safe until you’ve monitored the behavior of individual specimens for a certain amount of time.  
in the past i had a regal angel and it didn’t touch my euphyllia. but it mowed down my gsp. in this case it’s the opposite with my current annularis angel that leaves gsp alone but will nip euphyllia, at least torches
 
 
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I have flame and lemonpeel angel. The flame is very gd never nip at any softies and LPS except xenia, finish it within 1 day.

Recently added a lemonpeel, saw him nipping at one of the zoas but leave the rest untouched.

I guess is all about luck. The only thing I do is feed them very well to reduce their eating habits.

I saw a few very nice regal but don't dare to buy scare no luck. If got chance I'm thinking of getting juvenile and try to train.

[soggycookies]

 

 

 

 

I have flame and lemonpeel angel. The flame is very gd never nip at any softies and LPS except xenia, finish it within 1 day.

 

Recently added a lemonpeel, saw him nipping at one of the zoas but leave the rest untouched.

 

I guess is all about luck. The only thing I do is feed them very well to reduce their eating habits.

 

I saw a few very nice regal but don't dare to buy scare no luck. If got chance I'm thinking of getting juvenile and try to train.

yeah dwarf angels are definitely the second best option after genicanthus angels if you wanna keep angels in a reeftank. they’re not guaranteed reef-safe though, and larger angels are even less likely to leave your corals alone.

 

perhaps you’ll have better success with captive-bred ones or ones raised from young trained on a diet.

 

my annularis angel was locally collected on coastal waters in an area where water clarity wasn’t great by any means and in the beginning i had to test what coral it would and wouldn’t eat. in a month it cleared my tank of zoas and occasionally nipped my torch pretty hard. but i noticed it didnt bother with my gsp, leathers and toadstool at all. observed it for another 9 months and it was a model citizen so i decided to keep the coral stocking to what i know it doesn’t go for.

 

 

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[Indeco]

Planning to get a bellus angel if got heathly specimen.

You should consider getting more angels, I believe your current setting will allow u to do so.

Get a Regal, goldflake. haha

[soggycookies]

Planning to get a bellus angel if got heathly specimen.

You should consider getting more angels, I believe your current setting will allow u to do so.

Get a Regal, goldflake. haha

as much as i’m tempted to add more angels i don’t wanna risk my current coral stocking hahahaha. they’re definitely not reef-safe fish and trying to get one out of a 300G display is not gonna be fun. leathers might be safe but i do have clove polyps like this one below which might get devoured by new angels






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[soggycookies]

Planning to get a bellus angel if got heathly specimen.

You should consider getting more angels, I believe your current setting will allow u to do so.

Get a Regal, goldflake. haha

on second thought I might get one of those genicanthus angels(like a bellus) too hahahah.

perhaps a male watanabei angel or a zebra lyretail angelfish


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[Indeco]

on second thought I might get one of those genicanthus angels(like a bellus) too hahahah.

perhaps a male watanabei angel or a zebra lyretail angelfish


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Zebra is nice but hard to find, haven't got chance to see one.

[soggycookies]

 

 

 

 

Zebra is nice but hard to find, haven't got chance to see one.

always seem to find the female ones. watanabei angels too. the males seem less common

 

 

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